learn something of the past. The pier museum curators were all in favour, because we
could have advertised their venue too. However, the local council was not so helpful.
Trevor and I took time off work to attend a meeting, but were met with so many silly
excuses, like "We do have a unit, but can't show it to you until there is a right tide."
Apparently, it was either in too much or out too far. What that had to do with a unit on
top of the pier was beyond us, so we eventually gave up. Mind you, it was probably a
wise decision, as on a recent visit to the pier, that part of it has yet again been
devastated by fire. Southend pier has a notorious history of fires over the years, luckily
the pier museum does not get affected, being situated at the shore entrance.
We still had this feeling bugging us of wanting to do something more with the
machines, so following a visit to a classic car show in Lowestoft, we thought "what if
we bought a guest house and themed it with the machines and memorabilia from the
sixties." This could possibly work, as I wanted a job that would fit in with Michael's
schooling and Trevor could help but still do his job as a cab driver.
It sounded great in theory, but in practice it was easier said than done. For a start,
trying to convince the bank we were a viable proposition was one hurdle, and then
finding a suitable place was another. Unfortunately, what a property looks like and
what it's like in reality are too different things. However, after some months
everything fell into place and we found what we were looking for in Great Yarmouth.
'Scary but exciting' I think was what we felt. Our friends thought we were mad, but
we knew we wouldn't be happy until we gave it a shot.
Finding a removal company proved to be more difficult than we thought. It
wasn't the quantity we had to move, but more the content. We had three removal
companies come to give us a quote. The first two laughed nervously and beat a hasty
retreat. The third guy ran a small family business and was more than happy to move
our machines. He said his guys would think it less boring that the normal removals. So
we were all set; what were we letting ourselves in for? .....
Final part next month.
Angie Dobney
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